Article alignment device on a packaging machine

ABSTRACT

A stack of tile moving between the bagging machine and bag heat shrinking machine needs to be neatly stacked so that the end packaged product is neatly stacked. An automatic tile stacker is used to form a package of tiles into a uniformly appearing stack. A senser on the conveying line between the bagging machine and heat shrinking machine detects the presence of the stack of tile. This then operates a mechanical stop structure which aligns the forward and rearward surfaces of the stack of tile. The uniformly stacked tiles then proceed to the heat shrinking machine.

United States Patent Androkitis [54] ARTICLE ALIGNMENT DEVICE ON A PACKAGING MACHINE 2,128,316 8/1938 Paul ....2l4/6DX 1 Apr.11, 1972 2,805,757 9/1957 Rapley ..2l4/6SX 3,511,173 5/1970 Morrow ..l98/35X Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant ExaminerRobert J. Spar Attorney-Clifford B. Price ABSTRACT A stack of tile moving between the bagging machine and bag heat shrinking machine needs to be neatly stacked so that the end packaged product is neatly stacked, An automatic tile stacker is used to form a package of tiles into a uniformly appearing stack. A senser on the conveying line between the bagging machine and heat shrinking machine detects the presence of the stack of tile. This then operates a mechanical stop structure which aligns the forward and rearward surfaces of the stack of tile. The uniformly stacked tiles then proceed to the heat shrinking machine.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR I 1 1212 INVENTOR JOHN L.- ANDROKITIS ATTORNEY ARTICLE ALIGNMENT DEVICE ON A PACKAGING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to an apparatus for packaging a stack of flat articles and, more particularly, an apparatus for aligning the stack of articles into a unifonn stack.

2. Description of the Prior Art US. Pat. No. 3,362,l28 discloses the packaging of goods in a plastic bag-type structure and the use of a heat shrink machine or tunnel to draw the plastic bag tight around the stack of articles contained within the bag. U.S. Pat. No. 2,937,485, discloses the use of a stacking structure for permitting one to stack a plurality of individual flat sheets in a neat pile at the beginning of a packaging machine. After the pile is completely stacked, the alignment structures are removed and the stacked goods are bagged while in a uniform stack.

It is the object of the invention herein to provide a simple structure for aligning the stack of tile as it passes from the bagging machine to the heat shrink tunnel. Proper alignment of the stack before it enters the heat shrink tunnel means that the plastic bag will be drawn around a neatly stacked collection of tile. A plurality of these neatly packed, uniform stacks of tile then may be readily placed within a box which is just large enough to take the tile when they are stacked one above the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The apparatus herein is an automatic tile stacker that is capable of forming a package of tiles into a uniform appearance. The tile is initially stacked up in a stack with the required number of tiles. It passes through an automatic bagging machine which slips the tile within a plastic bag. The stack of tile then exits from the bagging machine, and at this point the stack has normally been disturbed so that the stack of tile is uniform on the edges along the machine direction, but irregularly stacked along the edges which are across the machine direction. The tile is conveyed from the bagging machine to a heat shrink tunnel. The straightening of the two improperly stacked edges of the tile is accomplished by providing a mechanical sensing device above the conveyor line. The sensing device is connected with a timer and a solenoid valve. When the sensing device detects the presence of a stack of tile, the solenoid valve controls air feed to a pneumatic cylinder which in turn is operated and, through the use of appropriate linkage, a number of stops located approximately adjacent to the comers of the tile package are moved to engage the tile package and force it into a uniformly stacked shape. The timer is used to operate the solenoid valve so that it operates the pneumatic cylinder for a sufiicient period of time to get the tile uniformly stacked. The timer then operates the solenoid valve to release the pneumatic cylinder, which then permits the stops to disengage from the package. The package, now neatly stacked, will move to the heat shrink tunnel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is an isometric sketch of the stop structure and its actuating mechanism; and

FIG. II is a side plan view of the apparatus herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A plurality of 12 inches X 12 inches floor tile or like flat sheets are stacked one above the other and fed into a conventional automatic plastic bagging machine 2. The stack of tile 4 will leave the bagging machine in an irregular stack. Guide structures within the machine will normally keep the two edges of the stack which extend parallel with the direction of movement of the tile in a uniform stacking with the edge of one tile being placed directly above the edge of another tile.

However, the movement of the tile through the machine will cause the tiles to slide relative to each other in a direction parallel with the machine direction. This means that the edges 6 and 8 of the stack of tile will not be uniformly lined up one above the other. Normally, what occurs is that the lowermost tile has its leading edge slightly ahead of those tiles which are successively stacked above the lowermost tile. Note particularly this arrangement, which is shown specifically in FIG. II. If the tile was placed directly in the heat shrink tunnel 10 while stacked in the manner shown in FIG. II as it leaves the bagging machine, the plastic bag would be drawn tight against the package, and the package would be permanently held in its staggered arrangement. The heat shrinkable plastic does not tend to neatly align the tile, but will tend to adhere to the arrangement of the tile. After the tile leaves the heat shrink tunnel 10, it is normally placed in a cardboard box which has an internal dimension only slightly greater than 12 inches X 12 inches. Therefore, unless the tile is carefully stacked one upon the other, a staggered arrangement tile will not readily fit within the box. Once the plastic bag has been heat shrunk around the tile, it is very difficult at that time to now get the tile lined up in the uniform stack. Consequently, the tile must be placed in a uniform stack prior to the time it enters the heat shrink tunnel.

The alignment of the tile in a neat stack is carried out by apparatus 12. This apparatus is composed of a switch 14 which has a senser 16. The senser is in position so that it may be contacted by the stack of tile as it moves along the conveyor 18, which is carrying the tile from the bagging machine to the heat shrink tunnel. Contact of the tile with the senser 16 operates the switch 14. This operates a solenoid valve and timer structure 20. The conventional timer structure is used only to see that the apparatus operates for a short period of time and overcomes the action of the senser 16 so that the stack of tile, after it has been uniformly stacked, is released for movement into the heat tunnel 10. The solenoid permits air to flow to the air cylinder 22. The air cylinder 22 has a piston 26 connected to a bell crank 28. The bell crank 28 is connected to a rod 30 which has thereon two stop elements 32. The stop elements normally are positioned in a plane parallel and slightly below the upper surface of the conveyor belt 18. Also, the stop elements 32 are on either side of the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is in width slightly less than the width of the stack of tiles. The spacing between the stop elements 32 is also slightly less than the width of the tiles so that both stop elements may engage an edge of the tile. Looking at FIG. I, movement of the solenoid plunger 26 in a direction left to right will move the bell crank 28 in a counterclockwise direction 34. Rod 30 is mounted on appropriate bearing structures so that movement of the bell crank will cause the rod 30 to rotate. Stop elements 32 are fastened to the rod 30; and, therefore, as the rod rotates the stop elements will move from a position in a plane parallel with the conveyor belt to a plane which is perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt. On the end of the rod 30 opposite from the location of bell crank 28 is a bell crank 36. An element 38 connects the bell crank 36 with a bell crank 40. Movement of the bell crank 36 in a counterclockwise direction results in movement of bell crank 40 in a clockwise direction as shown by arrow 42. Bell crank 40 is fixedly fastened to a rod 44 which is similar to rod 30, and rod 44 has stop elements 46 which are similar to stop elements 32.

At the same time that rod 30 rotates and moves stop elements into a plane perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt, rod 44 is rotated and stop elements 46 move into a plane which is perpendicular to the conveyor belt. The spacing between stop elements 46 and 32 is roughly that of the length of a tile. Consequently, when the sensing element 16 engages the stack of tile, the above-described structure will cause stop elements 32 and 46 to move into a position perpendicular to the conveyor belt as shown in the solid line showing of FIG. II. Stop elements 44 engage the leading edge of the stack of tile while stop elements 32 engage the trailing edge of the stack of tile. The stop elements push the tile so that the leading edge and trailing edge of the tile are now arranged in a uniform stack one tile above the other. After an appropriate time, the timer moves the stop elements back to the dotted line posi tion, shown in FIG. ll, therefore, releasing the stack of tile now uniformly stacked. The tile then progresses onward to the heat tunnel where the plastic bag is shrunk around the stack of tile to hold them in a securely bundled stack of tile. While the stack of tile is held in position by the stop elements 44 and 32, the conveyor 18 will continue to run and merely slip past the underneath surface of the stack of tile. As soon as the stop elements are removed, the frictional contact between the conveyer and stack of tile is such that the tile will then move forward again.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic stacker comprising a conveyer means transporting a stack of articles from one location to a second location, said stack of articles being nonuniformly arranged on those edges which are across the direction of travel of the conveyer, sensing means sensing the presence of the stack of nonuniformly arranged articles when the articles are in position to be uniformly aligned, means positioned adjacent the conveyer means and positioned apart a fixed distance equal to the length of the individual articles in the stack of articles, said sensing means sensing said stack of articles and operating said means adjacent the conveyer structure to cause said last-mentioned means to engage the leading edge and trailing edge of said stack of articles to uniformly align said stack of articles, said last-mentioned means then releasing said stack of articles to permit said articles to then be further conveyed by the conveying means with the stack of articles in a uniform stack, said means for engaging the leading and trailing edges of said stack of articles comprising two bar structures with projecting stop means mounted thereon, each of said stop means normally ex tending in a plane parallel to and below the top surface of the conveyor belt and, when actuated by said sensing means, said bar structures are rotated so that each of said stop means extend in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt to engage both the leading and trailing edges of said stack of articles to align these edges.

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1. An automatic stacker comprising a conveyer means transporting a stack of articles from one location to a second location, said stack of articles being nonuniformly arranged on those edges which are across the direction of travel of the conveyer, sensing means sensing the presence of the stack of nonuniformly arranged articles when the articles are in position to be uniformly aligned, means positioned adjacent the conveyer means and positioned apart a fixed distance equal to the length of the individual articles in the stack of articles, said sensing means sensing said stack of articles and operating said means adjacent the conveyer structure to cause said last-mentioned means to engage the leading edge and trailing edge of said stack of articles to uniformly align said stack of articles, said lastmentioned means then releasing said stack of articles to permit said articles to then be further conveyed by the conveying means with the stack of articles in a uniform stack, said means for engaging the leading and trailing edges of said stack of articles comprising two bar structures with projecting stop means mounted thereon, each of said stop means normally extending in a plane parallel to and below the top surface of the conveyor belt and, when actuated by said sensing means, said bar structures are rotated so that each of said stop means extend in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt to engage both the leading and trailing edges of said stack of articles to align these edges. 